Catalytic dehydrogenation of isobutane in the presence of hydrogen over Cs-modified Ni 2 P supported on active carbon

Abstract

• Ni 2 P catalyst is tested in dehydrogenation of isobutane for the first time. • The effects of Cs promoter on catalytic performance of Ni2P/AC were investigated. • Cs-Ni2P/AC exhibits high activity and selectivity for isobutane dehydrogenation. In this article, an environmentally friendly non-noble-metal class of Cs-Ni 2 P/active carbon (AC) catalyst was prepared and demonstrated to exhibit enhanced catalytic performance in isobutane dehydrogenation. The results of activity tests reveal that Ni/AC catalyst was highly active for isobutane cracking, which led to the formation of abundant methane and coke. After the introduction of phosphorus through impregnation with ammonium di-hydrogen phosphate and H 2 -temperature programmed reduction, undesired cracking reactions were effectively inhibited, and the selectivity to isobutene and stability of catalyst increased remarkably. The characterization results indicate that, after the addition of phosphorous, the improvement of dehydrogenation selectivity is ascribed to the partial positive charges carried on Ni surface in Ni 2 P particles, which decreases the strength of Ni C bond between Ni and carbonium-ion intermediates and the possibility of excessive dehydrogenation. In addition, Cs-modified Ni 2 P/AC catalysts display much higher catalytic performance as compared to Ni 2 P/AC catalyst. Cs-Ni 2 P-6.5 catalyst has the highest catalytic performance, and the selectivity to isobutene higher than 93% can be obtained even after 4 h reaction. The enhancement in catalytic performance of the Cs-modified catalysts is mainly attributed to the function of Cs to improve the dispersion of Ni 2 P particles, transfer electron from Cs to Ni, and decrease acid site number and strength.